


We Band of Brothers

by thefrogg



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-31
Updated: 2008-10-31
Packaged: 2017-10-10 17:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/102369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefrogg/pseuds/thefrogg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes losing control takes some help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Band of Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> Set several months into SGA Season 5. Scenes in italics are flashbacks.  
> Kink: Sparring/violence as foreplay. I threw in a side of voyeurism for good measure - I didn't think anyone would mind.

The gym fell silent gradually, sounds of combat dying away until all eighteen Marines were glancing expectantly between Teal'c just inside the door, and Ronon pacing the inside wall nervously.

"Need something, Teal'c?" Major Dennison asked.

"I need for all of you," Teal'c started, black gaze flickering around the room, "to be elsewhere."

Dennison looked at Ronon again, watched him clench and unclench his fists for a moment, and nodded. "You heard the man, pack it up."

"Sir, yes sir!" The soldiers filed out without protest, many of them saluting Teal'c as they passed.

"Lock the door behind me. I'll let the General know gym's off limits."

"That would be much appreciated, MajorDennison." Teal'c bent his head.

Dennison snapped his own salute, took one last look at Ronon, and left without another word.

The door thudded shut.

~~~

_"It's come to my attention that almost no one here in Atlantis has taken leave since arriving here in the Pegasus Galaxy," Wolsey started._

_"And?" Ronon asked, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised as if to ask, And what does that have to do with me?___

_"And, the IOA can't ignore that. Which means everyone here in Atlantis - barring myself, because I've only been here a few months - is going to be required to take at least two weeks' leave in the next four months. Now, I'm prepared to make some allowances for you and Teyla, since you're technically--"_

_Ronon cut him off._

~~~

Ronon was still pacing the short wall when Teal'c tossed him a staff; he snatched it out of the air without looking.

"We are alone, RononDex," Teal'c said mildly.

"So?" Ronon didn't look up, only spun the staff in his hands until it was perfectly balanced in his grip.

"You wish to waste my time?"

Ronon tensed at the insult, knuckles whitening against the dark wood.

~~~

_"You're going to Earth on leave?" John asked in disbelief._

_"Yeah." Ronon shrugged. "Got a problem with that?"_

_"No," John answered, drawing out the vowel. "Just thought you'd have friends here in Pegasus you'd want to visit."_

_Ronon snorted. "My friends are here in Atlantis."_

~~~

Ronon concentrated on his breathing, on the weight and texture of the wood in his hands, letting the constant sensation steady him; he'd won control in seven years on the run, in retaking the Mountain. He would not lose it now, to petty insults and subtle barbs thrown at him by someone who did not, could not, know him.

"I didn't come here to hurt you." He couldn't manage Teal'c's effortless neutrality, too much anger, too much pain threatening to snap his control.

"You cannot hurt me, RononDex."

~~~

_"You know you don't have to stay here at the SGC, Ronon," Sam started. "You can--"_

_"No thanks."_

_Sam stared, taken aback momentarily. "Ah. Well, I did talk to Teal'c. You're welcome any time."_

~~~

Rage simmered just beneath the surface, knotting Ronon's muscles and shortening his stride. He could not afford to lose control, to let it win.

He could not afford to keep it in check.

"You should have made her leave," Teal'c said, watching Ronon flinch and quick-step sideways to catch himself.

~~~

_Amused, Teal'c watched Ronon eat with focused determination; it was unlikely that the younger warrior would ever lose the instinct to take advantage of an effortless food supply. Not after being a Runner._

_Even if the SGC commissary's food wasn't anywhere near the best Teal'c had eaten, or Ronon, it was far from the worst, and plentiful._

_"I've been reading some of SG-1's mission logs," Ronon said without preamble, fork stabbing the air in emphasis._

_Teal'c tilted his head to one side._

_"Kelnorim keeps getting mentioned, but--" He shrugged, letting his silence ask for clarification._

~~~

General O'Neill hovered over Colonel Carter's shoulder as she watched the security footage from the gym. "Teal'c can take care of himself, Carter."

"Believe me, I know," Carter said, no humor in her voice. "But why--" She gestured at the screen, fingers all but following Ronon as he backed Teal'c around the room.

"For crying out loud, Carter--" He stopped short as Ronon snapped onscreen, his staff lashing out at Teal'c only to be expertly blocked.

~~~

_Ronon was silent, and still, like prey feeling predatory eyes._

_"Is there something wrong, RononDex?"_

_He shook himself, setting his fork on the edge of his plate, tines down. "Mind if I join you?"_

_Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I must admit I have never thought you willing to meditate," he said after a long silence._

_Ronon shrugged._

~~~

Chin tucked to his chest, Ronon panted, control frayed to a thread. One end of his staff rested jammed into the floor, both hands clinging to it as it supported most of his weight.

"Is that all you can do, RononDex?"

Ronon rolled his eyes upwards, but did not shift his position. "I did not. Come here. To hurt you."

"Then why bother coming at all?" Teal'c asked softly.

"Because--"

"Because there is no one left to absolve you?"

Ronon could barely make out the words. "No." The denial came out in a half-snarl.

"Then perhaps because it was your fault."

Teal'c felt the clash of staff-on-staff under his hands, vibrations making him grit his teeth.

~~~

_"This is important to you," Teal'c said, knowing the answer._

_"Didn't have..." Ronon felt his breath catch in his throat, chest suddenly tight. "Time, when I was Running."_

_"Surely you have time now, in Atlantis."_

_"Yes."_

_"There are obstacles?"_

_Ronon shrugged again. "On Sateda, we never did, alone. Or," he added, still unable to meet Teal'c's eyes, "in mixed company."_

~~~

The blows from Ronon's staff were still regular, controlled, the fury still under a modicum of restraint. This lashing out was merely a last-ditch attempt at a controlled release.

"You should have made her leave." Teal'c bent, taking strike after strike on his staff, refusing to return them.

"I tried." Every barb wore him down, every verbal attack stung, cut into what remained of his control and stripped him bare. And yet Ronon could not give in. "I tried," he hissed.

"Did you?" Teal'c stepped back, dodging a blow instead of meeting it; Ronon swung himself around in futility and fell to one knee. "Or was she just a human shield for you?"

Ronon froze.

"Was she? Did you save your own life at the expense of hers?"

Jaw muscles pulsed as Ronon grit his teeth.

"You do not defend yourself."

The look Ronon gave him was scathing, raw with hatred. "She. Carried. My. Son!" The last word came out in a roar as he attacked again, wild with grief and rage.

~~~

_Ronon watched avidly as Teal'c lit candles and a single cone of incense, curls of scented smoke drifting up to hover near the ceiling._

_"This will not bother you?"_

_"No." The word was raspy. Ronon cleared his throat, shook his head. "No, it won't bother me." His hands clenched at his sides, nostrils flaring._

_"You are eager."_

_"Wouldn't you be, after...almost nine years without?" Ronon sounded drugged, dazed._

_Teal'c wished idly that that emotion had been prompted by something else. "I would be dead inside a month."_

_"It felt like I would be." Ronon moved to one side of Teal'c's room and folded his body gracefully to the floor. "Sometimes."_

~~~

"Carter." O'Neill's voice was more breath than sound.

"I didn't--I swear, I didn't know..." Tears blurred her vision, hid everything but the frenetic motion on the screen in front of her. She didn't have to turn, didn't have to look to know that O'Neill's face was bone-white.

"Turn it off, Carter."

She tried, her fingers knotting on the console in front of her. They shook too hard to respond.

~~~

_Teal'c surfaced first, taking the opportunity to watch Ronon._

_The younger man was still in a way Teal'c had never seen him before, the brewing storm lurking beneath his skin quiet._

_It would not last, not now that Teal'c understood why Ronon had sought him out._

_He could only hope he could help Ronon find what he was looking for._

~~~

_Seven years,_ Teal'c thought to himself. Seven years Ronon had to build his stamina, his skill. Seven years to let this loss and grief and anger fester.

The staves were splintered now, their polished surfaces split and ruined.

Still Ronon fought on, battering at Teal'c, at his own failure and guilt. His skin gleamed with exertion, muscles trembling with the onset of exhaustion.

~~~

_Breakfast was eerily quiet._

_"What happened?" Teal'c asked finally._

_"What happened when?" Ronon asked, then shoved a forkful of sausage in his mouth._

_"When the Wraith took Sateda." It was a calculated risk._

_Ronon's hard-won peace shattered._

~~~

"You should have been able to stop them."

"I'm--" **thud **"only--" **crack **"one--" **smack **"person--"

"Yes." Teal'c danced backwards, tossing his staff to clatter against the wall, and caught Ronon's in both hands, twisting it until the other man fell to his knees, elbows locking painfully. "You are only one person. And you do no one honor by wallowing in your guilt."

Ronon refused to let go. "You can't know--"

"I was First Prime of Apophis for many years."

~~~

_Ronon's chair slammed into the next table as he surged to his feet, drawing attention._

_"You cannot speak of it?" Teal'c asked mildly._

_Ronon didn't answer, instead glaring until the onlookers went back to their own business._

~~~

Ronon let go of his staff reluctantly, ignoring the stabs of pain from his abused elbows as he tipped forward.

Teal'c dropped the staff to one side and knelt, catching Ronon before he fell to the floor.

"I can't..." Ronon whispered, eyes burning. Helpless fists met Teal's chest, fingers spreading across slick skin.

"I have you, RononDex." Teal'c wrapped both hands around the back of Ronon's neck, brushed thumbs over the curve of Ronon's ears.

~~~

_"Kell sacrificed thousands to save his own miserable hide."_

~~~

"I said turn it off, Carter," O'Neill said, reaching over her shoulder to do it himself.

"I'm sorry, sir, I..." Carter swallowed and stumbled to her feet, tipping the chair over. She hadn't expected Teal'c to look at the camera, somehow knowing he was being watched; the image was burnt into her mind, and she couldn't look away from the screen, even though it was black.

"You what?"

"I didn't know he came here to, to grieve."

~~~

_"And did he?"_

_"Not for long." There was vicious satisfaction in Ronon's answer._

~~~

Teal'c held fast as Ronon shook with ragged, ugly sobs, tears scalding the Jaffa's shoulder.

That Ronon had sought him out, had trusted him with this, had fallen back on their shared bond of alien-ness, was telling enough.

Teal'c had put aside his own desires for less; this was more important. This trust was sacred.

There would be time, in the weeks ahead, to see if there could be more between them than shared comradeship.

Teal'c could wait.


End file.
